1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to teleconferencing, and more particularly, to a use of a voiceprint to facilitate a conference call.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Audio conferences via a switched telephone network are in widespread use. The conference may be accomplished by use of a multi-line telephone or by a conference bridge having a telephone number that can be called by all conference participants.
To make sense of a conference call, a participant attempts to keep track of whom the other participants are and, at any given time, who is speaking. Typically, participants introduce themselves at the outset of a conference, furnishing an opportunity for the others to identify them and to learn the unique characteristics of their voices. Thus, participants identify one another by recognition of vocal characteristics such as pitch and accent. Still, it is not unusual during a conference for a listener to ask who has just spoken. This scenario becomes further complicated in a case where the conference includes participants from two or more companies and from various organizations within each company. Also, the conference might be arranged by more than one person, each inviting still more people so that there is no centralized advance knowledge of who has been invited, let alone who will actually be present. Thus, during a conference, it is up to each participant to associate the voices and identities of the others and to categorize their roles.
A video conference provides video as well as audio, but it is not as common as the audio conference because it involves additional expenses for special input, output, and coordinating equipment, and also greater transmission bandwidth. An important role of video is to help a listening participant identify a speaking participant.
Recently, the term “desktop conferencing” has come into use, referring to an audio or a video conference that makes use of personal computers (PC) connected via the Internet. A PC can also be configured to interface with a telephone, and it may provide a platform for hardware and software for special purpose processing, such as voiceprint analysis.
Jessica J. Baldis, “Effects of Spatial Audio on Communication During Desktop Conferencing”, M S Thesis, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Washington, 1998, discusses a history of desktop conferencing and explains the importance of identifying the speaker in audio desktop conferencing. Baldis also describes a system in which binaural audio is transmitted in a manner that makes the voices of different speakers appear to come from different places.
Besides being more complicated and expensive than a basic audio conferencing system, a system that involves either video or “spatial audio” requires all participants in a conference to use compatible special equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,804 to Akita, entitled “Telephone Answering Voiceprint Discriminating and Switching Apparatus”, describes a voice mail system that employs voiceprint analysis. A voice processing unit and a voice analysis unit work together to receive a voice signal in a telephone call and produce voiceprint parameter data. Thereafter, a comparison unit and a decision unit are employed to determine a routing for the call.
Nevertheless, there is a need for a system that allows a participant in a conference call to better track dialog of other participants, without requiring a video link or special equipment at the site of each participant.